I wasn't suggesting that the anonymous "Abu" originated the expression, but he or she was the one who brought it into the thread.

Yes, there've been some guns on the Palestinian side, but it's very clear that the mass of the weapons used by them have been stones and catpults. And the death count confirms that. Morever. since one in four of the Palestionian deaths have been children (ie under 16),that's a fairly clear indication that it's stonethrowers who are being targetted. (Though of course the little boy shot in his father's arms while they tried to hide from an army sniper was very clearly not throwing anything at anybody.)

It's a messy and horrible situation, and the sort in which ugly rumours spread. I hope that no mosques have been intentionally attacked, either in Israel itself or in the occupied territories, though I wouldn't share rabbitrunning's confidence that if they had it would have been prominently reported in the newspapers.

But the almost one-sided death toll is not in dispute. And the United Nations Security Council which has declared that Israel has been using excessive force includes some countries which are in general very sympathetic to Israel.